Virgin Media O2 has confirmed the divestment of a portion of its stake in Cornerstone, the mobile towers joint venture, to infrastructure investment firm Equitix for a sum of £186m.
The transaction reduces the telecommunications company's holding to just above 25%, following the sale of an 8.33% share. This is part of a larger 16.66% interest in a parent entity that possesses half of Cornerstone, as reported by .
Equitix's Chief Investment Officer Achal Bhuwania described Cornerstone as "the 海角视频's largest telecom tower portfolio" and a piece of "critical national infrastructure which is central to our mandate to invest in core infrastructure."
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This move is reflective of a broader pattern within the telecom sector where businesses are looking to reduce debt and generate capital for significant investment initiatives.
Last year, Virgin Media O2 engaged in a comparable transaction, offloading a 16.67% stake in Cornerstone to GLIL Infrastructure, a firm supported by British pension funds, netting £360m.
Lutz Schuler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, remarked that this additional divestiture "follows the same logic and strategic rationale as our previous deal, allowing us to successfully monetise our infrastructure while retaining a controlling share in an important asset".
He further noted that the company's deployment of 5G and fibre networks is advancing rapidly, with investments totalling £1.5bn directed towards network enhancements this year alone.
In the third quarter, the fibre network expansion extended to an extra 281,100 premises, marking a 44% increase from the previous year, while 5G now covers 68% of the 海角视频 population.
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However, the telecom company, jointly owned by Liberty Global and Spain's Telefonica, also disclosed today a 2.4 per cent decrease in third quarter revenue, now standing at £2.7bn, attributed to a drop in handset sales.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also suffered, falling 4.1 per cent year-on-year to £1bn, a decline the company ascribed to increasing investments in key growth sectors.
"In the first nine months we are tracking well against EBITDA guidance, enabling us to reiterate all guidance metrics with confidence, as we keep our foot on the gas with targeted investments in the salient final quarter," Schuler added.